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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-19-1984 MinutesMINUTES o PASCO CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 8 00 P M by Joe W Jackson, Mayor ROLL CALL MARCH 19, 1984 By City Clerk Councilmen present were Susan Boothe, Beverly Green, Charles Grigg, Ira Schmidt, E A Snider, Joe Jackson and Emerson Morgan Also present Were Lee Kraft, City Manager, Greg Rubstello, City Attorney, Jerry Conner, Acting Finance Director, Gretchen Thomason, Accounting Supervisor, James Ajax, Director of Public Works, Richard Erickson, Director of Parks/Recreation and Gary Crutchfield, Director of Community Development CONSENT AGENDA Mrs Boothe moved to approve Consent Agenda Seconded by Mr Schmidt Motion carried by roll call vote of seven (7) Consent items are as follows a) Approval of Minutes To approve minutes of regular meeting, held March 5, 1984 b) Bills To approve General Claims in the amount of $321,983 65, claim warrant nos 37865 through 38056 c) Reappointment of Planning Commission Members To confirm the Mayor's reappointment of Barbara Olson to the Planning Commission, to serve a 6-year term which will expire on April 7, 1990, and the Mayor's reappointment of Leonard Dietrich to the Planning Commission, to serve a 6-year term which will expire on June 1, 1990 d) Irrigation Materials - Kurtzman & Richardson Parks To award the bid for irrigation materials for Kurtzman and Richardson Parks to Evergreen Turf, in the total amount of $8,727 52, including sales tax I e) / Irrigation Installation - Kurtzman & Richardson Parks To award the bid for irrigation installation at Kurtzman and Richardson Parks to McKean Landscaping Company, in the total amount of $7,498 12, including sales tax f) Kurtzman & Richardson Parks - Playground Equipment To award the bid for playground equipment, drinking fountains and softball backstop, to Funco, in the total amount of $22, 031 89, including sales tax, and to award the bid for bleachers to Joseph Pleckinger and Associates in the total amount of $1,225 56, including sales tax g) Reappointment to Pasco/Franklin County Housing Authority To concur in the action taken by the Franklin County Commissioners in reappointing Mr Ray Pflueger to the Board of the Pasco/Franklin County Housing Authority, to a 5-year term of office which will expire on January 28, 1989 h) Proposed Change in Bus Route Nos 60 and 140 To approve Route #60 and Route #140 changes, as proposed by Ben Franklin Transit in their February 10, 1984 letter of request VISITORS Mayor Jackson read Proclamation, proclaiming the week of April 8 - 14, 1984 as "Medical Laboratory Week " At conclusion of reading, he presented Proclamation II/ to Gail Apley, Chris Johnson-of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Carol Kirkhall of Columbia Medical Laboratory and commended them for their outstanding contribution to the Tri City area Mr Ralph Thompson, 1712 W Octave, urged the Pasco City Council to hold a joint meeting with the Kennewick and Richland Councils on March 26, 1984 for the purpose of setting date for citizen input on consolidation by special election He felt that 6500 people had made their position clear and should be entitled to vote on issue (No action taken at this time) MINUTES PASCO CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MARCH 19, 1984 REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES AND/OR OFFICERS Tr-MATS Policy Advisory Committee Mrs Beverly Green will give a verbal report at next meeting Good Roads Association Mr E A Snider reported they had Officer Gary Allen of the Washington State Patrol speak to their group He enlightened membership on enforcement of truck traffic on County roads regarding weight restrictions Due to being short handed, they were hampered in performing their duty They, further, discussed funding of Plymouth Bridge and possibility of funds being temporarily held back Mr. Snider requested that staff check chuck holes at entrance to Red Lion Motor Inn It was reported that Walla Walla County would now be represented on Good Roads Association Committee ORDINANCES/RESOLUTIONS NOT RELATED TO PUBLIC HEARINGS ORDINANCE NO 2491. AN ORDINANCE CONCERNING THE FORECLOSURE OF LOCAL IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT ASSESSMENTS AND ADDING SECTION 3 08 080 TO THE PASCO MUNICIPAL CODE Ordinance No 2491 was read by title only Mr Schmidt moved to adopt Ordinance No 2491, concerning the foreclosure of Local Improvement District Assessments and adding Section 3 08 080 to the PMC Seconded by Mrs Boothe Motion carried by roll call vote of seven (7) RESOLUTION NO 1625 A RESOLUTION OF THE PASCO CITY COUNCIL, DECLARING ITS INTENTION TO ORDER THE IMPROVEMENT OF CERTAIN STREETS, THE IMPROVEMENT OF WHICH IS TO BE PAID IN FULL OR IN PART BY THE LEVY AND COLLECTION OF ASSESSMENTS UPON THE PROPERTY WITHIN THE PROPOSED IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT DESCRIBED HEREIN, AND NOTIFYING ALL PROPERTY OWNERS WHO MAY DESIRE TO OBJECT THERETO TO APPEAR AND PRESENT THEIR OBJECTIONS AT A PUBLIC HEARING AT A TIME AND PLACE SET HEREIN (April 16, 1984) Resolution No 1625 was read by title only Mrs Green moved to approve Resolution No 1625, which is a Resolution of Intent, as defined by State Law, to initiate the formation of an L I D Seconded by Mr Snider Mr James Ajax, Director of Public Works, made the following statement (Verbatim) "I think from the beginning, council recognized that the LID proposition was somewhat unique - character, age, condition of neighborhood is somewhat different We have held two informal meetings with the property owners to attempt to get a feel of that neighborhood The meetings weren't well attended, but those in attendance - the majority favored going at least this far with the L I D Staff has now defined the cost of the project and the preliminary cost estimate will be $720,000, of which $530,000 will be assessments to the property owners In that $530,000, it will include an assessment to Pasco Housing Authority which the City of Pasco will have to pick up By State Law, we really can't assess them, and rather than everyone else's assessments being higher because basically that property cannot be assessed, it is intended in this proposal that the City will pay that assessment with Block Grant Funds in 1985, or in the very remote situation that Block Grant Funds were not available, we would have to pay in another facet that simply says somewhere in City funding, we would have to come up with the money Page Two MINUTES PASCO CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MARCH 19, 1984 RESOLUTION NO 1625 - Continued In addition, there is $150,000 HUD money in there to go directly to the construction to lower everyone's assessment in the LID Saying $150,000 out of $720,000 would be paid when construction occurs with HUD money so the people's assessments would not be'the full 100% In addition, there is $40,000 street fund money to pay for additional rock and asphalt from 1st Avenue to Court Street through the nature of traffic and through traffic on those streets We are proposing, as mentioned in the workshop, that the preliminary assessment roll will go out - clearly indicating that the amount of the preliminary assessment will not be exceeded in the final assessment Staff has prepared that preliminary assessment We have done our best to make an engineer's estimate of what the project will cost, added 5% to that for contingency We are proposing that notice of hearing again states that the amount of estimated preliminary assessment will guarantee that final assessment will be no more than that amount That does pose some risk to the City, as pointed out in the workshop, that out of 30 LID's we have done, 28 had final assessments lower than preliminary, so I want to make you aware before you pass that Resolution and if you have different direction, that is our intention Another thing I want to mention that is important is the Assistance Program 1984 Block Grant does not, specifically, have money to assist low income property owners in this LID What Gary told you at the time of the Block Grant Hearing was that if we put money into the construction, $150,000 proposed, then we are obligated to pay 100% of all resident property owner's assessments who meet current eligibility requirements Final hearing on this project will not occur until 1985 - Gary may want to elaborate on this, but he's put the Block Grant Program together, explained to you previously that you will be obligating HUD money in 1985 to pay eligible property owner's assessments There are a couple of things I want to mention here One, staff has had several meetings on this It is the feeling of staff that it is extremely remote that there would not be HUD money in 1985, but the council should be aware What I am saying is, we are obligated to pay assessments, but we don't have 100% guarantee that money will be there Staff III wants council to be aware of this and share in the risk The second part of the HUD assistance is with a notice of hearing, we want to send a letter out, explaining that the City has an LID Assistance Program and what the eligibility requirements are I think, if I am not making myself clear, please stop me and ask questions, obviously in that neighborhood there are resident property owners that could not remotely pay their LID assessment, and early on in the project, council instructed - in fact, council initiated this project, that staff work out some way so that it would not work an unbearable hardship on those property owners It seems that we have got to give them some notice that we do have a program that has eligibility I wouTd like to do that in writing, ask that they call the Planning Office to find out the specifics of their circumstance and whether they may, or may not, be eligible The reason we want to do that is to a person that could not afford to pay his/her assessments, it would be rather foolish to send them a notice We would like to make them aware that there is an Assistance Program I am telling you that it is 99 99% certain that there will be Block Grant money next year If Congress turns around and there was none, then I want council to be aware that our only responsible choice is still to pick up those assessments That's a risk, but it is an unreasonable risk because whether or not there is HUD money, because you cannot expect those people to pay for streets when they flat cannot afford it So, if the worst scenario came about and there wasn't HUD money and if you wanted those streets improved, the City would end up in that remote case of putting some dollars out anyway Councilman Snider asked, "where is the City going to get the money to pick up III the assessment?" The City Manager replied that we had some money in the Contingency Fund and we would have to turn to that for assistance and, "we would have to sweep the bottom of the barrel, I guess " Snider How much money are we talking about? Ajax Between the Housing Authority and resident low-income property owners, I believe that Gary has indicated it might be as high as $150,000 Snider As I recall, we spent a few months wondering whether or not we were going to have Block Grant monies this year or not, and I am not as positive as you are what the Federal Government can do with the tax money If Lee had to come up with another $150,000, he would be hard pressed to do it If we had to cut into the Page Three MINUTES PASCO CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MARCH 19, 1984 RESOLUTION NO. 1625 - Continued level of services we now provide and there are areas that we would like to provide even higher level of service, it would be most difficult Staff came to us this year, as last year, that last year was a bare bones budget and this year, they are even cutting into the bone We don't have $150,000 to spend I realize that there is a good possibility that HUD money will come through, but that's like me going out to borrow a lot of money on the probaWity that I will get a raise next year We've got no guarantee that we are going to get Block Grant money next year or the year after that City Manager Mr Mayor, I would like to clarify that this year, the whole act was originally adopted by U S Congress in 1973 - the whole act expired last year We had to go through all the politics again It took a year of political debate Is there going to be a Block Grant Program? If so, how is it going to be handled? Are the States going to get some of the money - how much are the Cities going to get, etc That's all behind us now The U S Congress did adopt Block Grant Program and it's funded for the next three years, as I recall I think we could safely say that there would be a remote chance that the program would be "scuttled " However, we should be candid with you because nothing is certain It could be rescinded - it could be dumped That's always possible Ajax If staff didn't share your concerns, we wouldn't be pointing it out to you tonight for the fourth time Councilman Snider is right, there is a possibility that it could happen Gary Crutchfield In 1984 Program, it is reflected as $150,000 as an aid to construction I made it clear in documentation in that particular project, that we recognize in view of congressional amendments, that the City is obligated to pay 100% of low income or owner occupied household assessments, but we could not do that all in the 1984 Program, therefore, the 1984 aid to construction first step and the 1985 Program would conclude $150,000 you set aside to meet our obligations to pay low income or owner occupied assessments as well as Pasco Housing Authority assessment What that does is eliminate two things, #1 - it eliminates the environmental release requirement in 1985 Program We would spend the money sooner than we would otherwise be able to, and it eliminates that delay but it also puts the Department of Housing & Urban Development on notice that we have, essentially, embarked on a 2-year project based on the forthcoming 1985 grant monies that we anticipate Typically, as an example, is the Urban Renewal Program which was wiped out and replaced by the Block Grant Program in 1974 Even in the very unlikely event that Congress would not authorize additional funds in 1985, there would most likely be some consideration given to those cities that had embarked on 2-year projects Councilman Morgan concurred with Mr Snider's concerns, but he felt the City had an obligation to make this area as attractive as the rest of the City He felt this particular area needed improvement prior to other LID's in City Even if we had to cut back on services, he felt the City could find $150,000 to complete project Jim Ajax Last point I wanted to make and then I will go over the five is deletion of streets At an LID hearing, it is not terribly uncommon to have several property owners, or a group of property owners, representing one block of one street or perhaps several blocks of one street, to want to have their property excluded from the LID - go ahead with the rest, but leave our streets out - we don't want to participate I have had an indication in the past week that this might come up on this project I want to make council aware what happens if this occurs By law, when a council passes a Resolution of Intent, we are required 15-days prior to the hearing to send out an estimated cost If a street or block is deleted, it isn't a proportionate thing because it serves the whole neighborhood, etc If Council opts to delete a block or two of street, what that basically means is that we must go back and start over and what we will lose if we do that is almost two months of time to recap the roll and I want to make you aware of that tonight A project was suggested, a particular boundary was established because of the logical neighborhood and actually 9-years ago, we broke the town up into logical LID packages and finally got to this one I wanted to let you know tonight if you pass the Resolution that if you want to go ahead with the improvement in 1984, it would be very difficult to delete a street Page Four MINUTES PASCO CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MARCH 19, 1984 RESOLUTION NO 1625 - Continued Ajax - Continued As mentioned before, I would like to send out notices guaranteeing people that their final assessments won't be more than preliminary We want to send out a notice telling people that we do have an assistance program - not saying that anyone needs it, but if they want to find out to contact our Planner for details We will have to pay the Housing Authority assessment and probably that will come through Block Grant Money We are dependent on the HUD Program continuing, or as Councilman Snider pointed out, it's going to be a tough time in 1985, and lastly, deletion of any streets throws us off track for 1984 contract If this improvement fails, what it takes is people that are paying 60% of not the total of $720,000, but 60% of the actual assessments, protested in writing, that then overrides the council's authority to establish, by State Law, the LID As a policy matter, if you get over any percentage, council can withdraw the Ordinance if you pass it, but by law, it takes 60% of the cost of the project protesting to override the City Council Mr Gary Crutchfield Along with the notice of LID hearing, we will include a brief description of the LID Assistance Program, the fact that it is based on two criteria, #1 Home Ownership - who resides in home in LID boundary, #2 Whether or not the family size or household income is less than a certain amount prescribed by HUD for the family size If they meet this criteria or if they have any questions regarding this criteria, that we will urge them in the notice to call the Planning Office We will then, over the telephone, ask them several question s regarding income and write all this down on a standard check list, we will date and sign it and send it back to them along with a letter explaining that this is what they told us over the phone. If there are any mistakes, let us know before the protest period deadline. Assuming no mistakes, they would be obligated to tell us if there were, and they would have preliminary indication and I stress the word "preliminary" indication, that they would be eligible for assistance, come time for the final assessment roll in December or January We will emphasize in the written notice that the eligibility for the program must be verified through their tax statements and other income sources - either employers, pension funds, etc will have to be verified in writing at the time of the final assessment roll There are several reasons for that First of all, HUD could change the income guidelines between now and December Another circumstance could be a household's income could change drastically between now and December in either direction So, we want to be sure we verify all this at the time of the final assessment roll Mayor Jackson Gary, what is your best estimate of families in LID area which could qualify for LID assistance? Gary Crutchfield I believe I used the figure between 40 - 45 households that are owner/occupied ii (End of verbatim transcript) Mayor Jackson suggested that go to each individual's homes and explain LID process Mr Crutchfield replied that he did not have staff nor time to undertake such a program, however, the notices are going out in English and Spanish to assist residents much better Mrs Billie Cain, President of East Pasco Neighborhood Council, volunteered her groups services in any way she could Main motion carried INTRODUCTIONS Acting Finance Director, Jerry Conner, introduced Mrs Gretchen Thomason as our new Accounting Supervisor/Office Manager The City Council welcomed her as a new member of Administrative Staff ckson, Mayor ATTEST Evelyn è 1 , City Clerk PASSED and APPROVED this , 1984 day o I Page Five MINUTES PASCO CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MARCH 19, 1984 MISCELLANEOUS - INCLUDING SUGGESTIONS FROM COUNCIL Mayor Jackson appointed Emerson Morgan, along with City Manager, Gary Crutchfield, Donald Francis and Greg Rubstello to study problem of noise control and draft a potential ordinance for control of same The City Manager asked council what direction they wished to take in view of Mr. Thompson's request for a joint meeting of the three city councils to set a date of election on consolidation Mr Snider moved that staff indicate Pasco's non-interest in setting an election date on consolidation until legal requirements have been met Seconded by Mr Grigg Motion carried ADJOURNMENT Mr Snider moved that the meeting adjourn Seconded by Mrs Green Motion carried Meeting adjourned at 8 45 P M I