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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance September 26 2006WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Finance and Administrative Services Committee September 26, 2006 Committee Chair Sam Crawford called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. in the Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. Present: Carl Weimer Also Present: Dan McShane Barbara Brenner Laurie Caskey- Schreiber Absent: L. Ward Nelson COMMITTEE DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL 1. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO AN EASEMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND VERIZON NORTHWEST, INC., WHERE VERIZON NORTHWEST, INC. IS REQUESTING A 13,500 SQUARE FOOT EASEMENT IN THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF BAY HORIZON PARK ON ALDERSON ROAD (AB2006 -345) Weimer moved to recommend approval. Motion carried unanimously. 2. ORDINANCE AMENDING THE 2006 WHATCOM COUNTY BUDGET, THIRTEENTH REQUEST, IN THE AMOUNT OF $694,296 (AB2006 -349) Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator, read the list of requested items. Crawford moved to recommend approval to the full Council. The $200,000 for water resources is a lot of money. Try to come up with a more coordinated plan. He's not sure what that plan will be. Weimer stated this list was his idea. He's not sure why it costs $200,000 to create a list of plans they have on a shelf. Bruce Roll, Public Works Department, stated this request is for more than just a list. The request is to help the County set priorities for many plans as they begin implementation of those plans. The Council wanted to go through the plans and triage all the specific projects. The request also provides framework for managing drainages and accompanying revenues in the future. He met with consultants to find out what this project would be and the associated costs. This has never been done in the State. Other counties are in the similar plan of having to struggle with water resource inventory area (WRIA) implementation. There will be areas of the county that need more or less work done, depending on the issues. He hopes the work cost a lot less than this. It's not a simple task. The first step is an active discussion with Council to do prioritization. The later phases would include the larger audiences. Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 9/26/2006, Page 1 I Crawford asked if the request includes paying for full -time equivalent (FTE) 2 employee's. Roll stated they are not hiring staff. This is a one -time expenditure on 3 consultants. A request for proposals (RFP) is about ready to go. 4 5 Weimer stated phase three doesn't have a timeline. He asked if $200,000 is just for 6 phase one. Roll stated it is. 7 8 Weimer asked if they won't be taking any action for a year. Roll stated there are a 9 lot of early action items that will come forward. They are working on a contract for the 10 Lake Whatcom stormwater plan. They need to discuss the County's role in the water 11 resource issues. There will be simple things they can do right away. Other things will be 12 tougher. 13 14 McShane stated that discussion with the Council needs to include senior County 15 administration. Discussion and prioritization are the most important things they should be 16 doing. The WRIA Plan process was a massive undertaking that didn't engage the 17 councilmembers very well. Think about doing a two- or three -day retreat on water 18 resource planning. He is concerned that they may be experimenting with consultants, 19 which gets really expensive. He would rather the County staff do this type of project. The 20 water resource staff know this better than any consultant. That puts the staff in the 21 uncomfortable position of dealing with the Council. However, he would give a lot of 22 deference to the County staff. The councilmembers should put real effort into this. Roll 23 stated the issue is that they don't have the staff, in terms of workload, available to do that. 24 Also, this touches many issues. It's difficult to pull all those resources together and made 25 available. The work can be done with County staff, but not on this timeframe. There are 26 other issues and priorities. The reason for using consultants is to get it done timely. 27 28 McShane stated that's a good point. The Council must recognize that this is one 29 more task to take on. Implementation could require additional staff. He would rather hire 30 more staff. This is planned as a one -time expenditure, but really it will be ongoing. 31 32 Brenner stated this is something the County must do itself. Don't hire any more 33 consultants. The Public Works Department is having a hard time recruiting people. 34 However, this work needs to be done in- house. The Council knows about how the County 35 got to this point. She always understood that this stage would be done in- house. 36 37 Weimer stated he hoped this would be addressed when the Council sees the budget. 38 Now, they are hiring a consultant to put it off for 18 months. Roll stated there's no reason 39 why this couldn't be submitted as an additional services request (ASR) in the budget 40 process. 41 42 Desler stated the administration is doing modest things in terms of staffing, the 43 watershed, and the sub - basins. A series of projects, not as extensive as these plans, will 44 address some of these things. He is looking for a comprehensive list that integrates many 45 of the plans into a list similar to the road program. 46 47 Weimer stated something like that doesn't sound like it would cost $200,000. 48 49 Crawford asked if a list includes prioritization. Roll stated the issue is deciding 50 which projects the County wants to be a part of. There must be a policy discussion about 51 the list. There will be different priorities for different areas of the county. This project will 52 set different geographic priorities. They are looking at a WRIA plan that is 500 pages, a 53 salmon recovery plan that is also 500 pages, and other plans. It is complex. Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 9126/2006, Page 2 McShane stated a concern of not using a consultant is the tensions between various departments, the Council, and the administration, in terms of people being able to speak openly. However, he's not sure that having a consultant will prevent that tension from happening. Prioritization will be political, one way or another. Hopefully, the priorities will reflect what the community wants. The first concern is to have a comfortable, open dialog. Policy makers need to be well- educated on the issues. Coming up with a prioritization list related to a funding source is critical. However, he is not comfortable going down this route yet. Keep in mind that this work is an extra burden on staff, and the Council may need to add staff. Roll stated the concern about adding staff is whether the County's role will be land use or public works and capital projects. Those are two different disciplines. He doesn't have clarity on the County's role in the big picture. This is planning- centric, but implementation will take different resources. He doesn't recommend staffing up until they have more clarity on the priorities. Weimer stated they could prioritize the larger issues, such as fecal coliform, farm plans, and water rights. That is the level he was hoping to work at, before getting more specific. Also, it looks like an upcoming contract for the Planning Department covers many of the same things in this contract. It talks about prioritization of the WRIA plan. Roll stated he worked with other staff on the scopes, so there isn't duplication of effort. The WRIA is a plan under the umbrella of this prioritization process. There isn't a clear prioritization of the WRIA work. Doing that will only help to set the broad County priorities. A reason they are pursuing it is because grant monies are available for implementation. This pushes forward those elements the community agrees on in the next few years through grant revenue. That Planning Department contract doesn't look at salmon recovery, shorelines and critical areas issues, or stormwater management for phase two. That contract serves a role, but is centered on quality and quantity. Crawford stated this is a good time to move forward with this work. He will defer to Dr. Roll's judgment about hiring a consultant. Weimer moved to amend the ordinance to remove the $200,000 expense for the flood fund project list development until there is further study and discussion at the Water Resources work session. Motion to amend carried unanimously. Crawford stated he voted for the motion because the initiator of this item, Councilmember Weimer, is in favor of the amendment. They are not killing it, just studying it a little more. Roll stated they could discuss it through the budget process. Desler stated the administration will propose redeploying the water resources fund for certain project purposes. They will move the general funds and flood funds into a water resources fund to address certain key priorities. That will be part of the budget. That doesn't preclude the Council from deciding on the approach to deal with this issue. It sounds like the Council wants to discuss the options in the work session. McShane stated this outline of the phases is a worthwhile thing to discuss. If they hire a contractor, get some focus from the Council first. Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 9/26/2006, Page 3 Caskey- Schreiber stated she appreciates that this will be discussed in the work session. It seems that this is redundant with the WRIA plan. Assessing these big themes will cost a lot more than $200,000. They've spent too much money on this plan already. She thought the WRIA plan would have clearly defined steps for implementation. This feels like they are going backwards. The specifics aren't clear to her. Roll stated the WRIA and salmon recovery plans did have implementation strategies. However, the plans didn't discuss the County's role in those strategies. There are many actions the County can be involved in. This exercise is to discuss what activities the County will be involved in. Caskey- Schreiber stated the Council should decide that, not a consultant. Motion to recommend approval as amended carried unanimously. 3. ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A $100 PETTY CASH REVOLVING FUND FOR PUBLIC WORKS DESIGN /CONSTRUCTION AND STORMWATER (AB2006- 350) Weimer moved to recommend approval to the full Council. Motion carried unanimously. 4. ORDINANCE REVISING ORDINANCE 2002 -040 TO MOVE THE FERRY PETTY CASH FUND FROM THE ROAD FUND TO THE FERRY OPERATIONS FUND AND INCREASE THE AMOUNT BY $200 (AB2006 -351) Crawford moved to recommend approval to the full Council. Motion carried unanimously. S. REPORT REGARDING EMERGENCY PROCUREMENT FOR PERMANENT REPAIRS TO THE LUMMI ISLAND FERRY DOCK (AB2006 -306A) Ken Richardson, Public Works Department, stated the administration is required to report emergency procurements. The report is on Council packet page 50 and lets the Council know they have spent $291,000 on the temporary and permanent repairs to the Lummi Island ferry dock. The work was completed last week. The dock is now better than it was before. The major expenses were the design work, general construction, and purchase of a large ramp to move passenger ferry traffic over the construction site. Crawford asked if this is road fund money. Richardson stated it is. The cost is not included in the ferry fares. It is a capital expenditure, not maintenance. Brenner stated there was discussion about removing dock maintenance out of the ferry fee schedule, and putting that cost back in the road fund. She would like that option included at the public hearing. Also, there was information about a new schedule. Richardson stated the decision on the new ferry schedule was rescinded based on comments from the public and school officials. The Executive's Office received the most complaints. Brenner asked for a list of those who complained to the Executive's Office. Weimer stated there is a rumor on Lummi Island that the reason they had to do the emergency repairs was because the County wasn't paying attention in the first place. Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 9/26/2006, Page 4 1 Richardson stated that is not true. Staff discovered motion in the dock in April that made 2 traveling over the dock unsafe. They were able to temporarily fix the system to the point 3 the dock could be used. That temporary fix was not going to last to the end of the year. 4 The time to get it done was during the dry dock period. 5 6 Crawford stated that line of thinking could be ascribed to everything that the County 7 does. He likes to think the work was done because the County was paying attention. 8 9 Caskey - Schreiber asked if dock repairs are not supposed to come out of the ferry 10 fund. 11 12 Brenner stated the maintenance work used to come out of the road fund. The 13 department argued that it should come out of the ferry fare. Several people talked about 14 that in depth at the meeting on Lummi Island. The dock is no different from a road. It is 15 part of the transportation system that gets people to other places. 16 17 Crawford stated the County Council was approached by the Public Works 18 Department to look at a seven point system, similar to the way the Washington State ferry 19 system looks at their system. The Council adopted that system last year. Relative to the 20 amount of public discussion now, the Council had less attention paid to this at that time. 21 What stoked the flames recently was the proposal to raise ferry rates. There is a sense 22 among some members of the community that the Council snuck this in last year without 23 talking to the community. Now, Councilmember Brenner is open to looking again at the 24 seven point system to decide what they want to include in operations and maintenance. 25 Richardson stated it's not about what fund the money is in. The question is whether or not 26 maintenance of facilities is an operating expense. The confusion stemmed from one 27 individual who talked to the Washington State ferry system representatives, and denied 28 that the State does not include maintenance costs in operating expenses. Those 29 maintenance expenses in the State ferry system, Skagit County ferry system, and Pierce 30 County ferry system are operating costs. Capital expenses, which are things that preserve, 31 extend the life of, make better, or expand, are not included in the fare structures. 32 33 Crawford stated it seems like this could be a maintenance expenditure. However, it 34 won't be added to the operations and maintenance formula. 35 36 (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A.) 37 38 39 COUNCIL "CONSENT AGENDA" ITEM 40 41 1. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO THE 42 WHATCOM CHIEF FERRY INSURANCE RENEWAL FOR POLICY YEAR 9/30/06 43 THROUGH 9/30/07 IN THE AMOUNT OF $34,001 (AB2006 -355) 44 45 Crawford moved to recommend approval to the full Council. 46 47 Caskey- Schreiber asked if this cost is considered maintenance and operation. Every 48 ferry cost should come out of maintenance and operation. Otherwise it is a subsidy. 49 50 Ken Richardson, Public Works Department, stated insurance is part of the 51 operations and maintenance cost. The policy is reviewed through the Prosecutor's Office. 52 53 Motion carried unanimously. Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 9126/2006, Page 5 1 2 2. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A 3 CONTRACT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND TRANSPO GROUP TO 4 ESTABLISH A COMPREHENSIVE CONCURRENCY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, 5 IN THE AMOUNT OF $366,690 (AB2006 -356) 6 7 Crawford moved to recommend approval to the full Council. 8 9 Caskey- Schreiber stated the first thing these folks address should be the parks and 10 special district impact fees. That amount is about $40,000. That is the furthest item out 11 for implementation. That is more vital than going with a traffic impact fee, which will be 12 very complicated and time consuming. She doubts whether this is the best way to go. 13 Eventually, the Six Year Road Program will be impaired because of the impetus to spend 14 funds from the traffic impact fee. 15 16 Hal Hart, Planning and Development Services Director, stated the fire district issue 17 brought up the relationship between the districts and the County. They must focus on 18 special district coordination. Staff is beginning meetings with the different fire districts 19 today. Some of that effort is moving to the interim process. This will clarify at least three 20 streams of funding that developers will be asked to work on, including fire districts, special 21 districts for parks, and special districts for schools. They will clarify it in 60 days. It will 22 mean lot more staff work, but he agrees with Councilmember Caskey - Schreiber. 23 24 Crawford asked if item 5A could begin today, and it will take that long to do the 25 assessment. 26 27 John Everett, Planning and Development Services, stated they would split out the 28 fire district work plan to begin up front. That item isn't shown in exhibit B. Start working 29 on it as soon as the contract is in place. They can also start working on parks impact fee 30 system as well. The Parks Plan is about ready to come before the Council. They 31 considered pushing the Parks to come later in the process to keep focus on the critical 32 needs, but the consultants have said the process is flexible. 33 34 Caskey- Schreiber stated she is not as concerned about the parks. She is more 35 concerned about schools and fire districts. The schools are getting hammered without 36 school impact fees, especially Bellingham, from the growth in the urban growth areas. The 37 burden is on them to create a capital facilities plan, but it's easy on the Council to approve 38 those plans for the Comprehensive Plan. All the County must do is accept their plans via 39 ordinance. Hart stated the administration hopes to have that ordinance completed in 60 40 days. 41 42 Caskey- Schreiber stated she is meeting with the superintendents in November. She 43 doesn't want to have to tell them they have to wait a year in the process, when they can 44 have it done by January. 45 46 Crawford stated the only thing Bellingham School District has used impact fees for 47 is the purchase of portables. The fees don't apply to new schools. The districts will buy 48 portables no matter what. 49 50 Caskey- Schreiber stated they are not collecting impact fees in the urban growth 51 areas (UGA's). 52 53 Crawford stated they are not talking about new schools or any new facilities. Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 9/26/2006, Page 6 Caskey- Schreiber stated collection of those fees does not preclude the district from doing building schools, if the amount collected is significant. Brenner stated that has been the history, but at some point the district will stop adding portables and will need to add more schools. Crawford stated the district will have to go for a levy or bond. Brenner stated impact fees aren't the solution. They are a portion of the prevention. They won't solve the problem. They need to be collected, even when the districts go for bonding. It's not correct to say they will only be used for portables. Even though the date is mid - December, she understands that staff will have an interim ordinance by mid - October. Hart stated his staff will have an interim ordinance. Crawford stated he agrees with Councilmember Caskey - Schreiber, especially for the fire districts, which are asking for County help. It is painful to approve plats knowing that fire districts won't get help and response times will lag. These are life and death issues. McShane stated he has concerns regarding the transportation element. It appears that the emphasis is on Birch Bay and the urban growth areas around Bellingham. He asked if the other areas won't be taken into account at this time. Hart stated it doesn't mean that. It means they are taking special pains to clarify what they really need to do in the Birch Bay area. Five percent of the community is accepting 20 percent of the growth. They want to clarify that transportation element, which is the first phase. That will be expensive, and it includes a lot of night meetings and community coordination. They are also trying to be consistent with what the Bellingham UGA will look like after April. There are several policy issues in the existing UGA's that they can bring up. McShane stated the total contract amount is $366,690. It is broken out between transportation and the other elements. Everett stated that amount does not reflect the actual contract amount. The actual contract amount is $375,690. Crawford amended his motion to approve $375,690. McShane asked if they can look at other locations for traffic impact fees, and the amounts of money those areas may bring in. Hart stated they propose to create a revenue stream for parks and a significant transportation revenue stream. They have not yet come up with estimates yet. They will discuss issues that affect the revenue stream. Everett stated they would receive revenues back in the short-term. Given the amount of growth they are seeing, the amount would be ten fold. McShane stated he likes the idea of focusing on the Birch Bay area. That's where the problem lies. Anything else will get really complicated. Looking at the cost breakouts is helpful. Weimer stated he supports this. He asked if they will get another model out of this, or decide which of the two models they will approve. Hart stated the options are to create a hybrid of something else, inform the existing Council of Governments (COG) model, or follow Bellingham's model. Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 9/26/2006, Page 7 1 Everett stated this item would have the consultants analyze, compare, and contrast 2 the options. The consultants would say how they can tailor any of those models to the 3 County. 4 5 Weimer stated they are paying $65,000 for public outreach. Two meetings are 6 budgeted at $10,000 each. He asked why the cost for those meetings. He asked if the 7 audience justifies an expense of $65,000. Hart stated the public outreach lasts over 12 8 months. This issue has the widest scope of any project they've done since he's been with 9 Whatcom County. The special districts require a lot of coordination. 10 11 Weimer asked about the limited amounts of time the contractors would talk to the 12 Council. The consultants are talking more to the public in the steering committees. Keep 13 the Council more in the loop. Hart stated they will make sure that happens. 14 15 Everett stated the draft budget was up to $412,000, with a public outreach cost of 16 $90,000. Staff has already questioned that budget and reduced that amount. 17 18 Caskey- Schreiber stated consider amending this to put the fire and school impact 19 fee as the top priority for 2006 to get a product in place and to begin collecting fees for 20 2007. There is a lot of concern about what they are going to get for the traffic impact fees. 21 It will skew the Six Year Road Program. They will have to address those areas where 22 they've collected money and may neglect areas that need the money more. They will have 23 to work with Public Works to make sure any projects will be done in five years. She is not 24 sure the County is prepared to do this yet. Don't lose the good things in this contract. 25 This may take a long time to finish since multiple departments are involved. 26 27 Brenner stated they don't have to prioritize it over transportation. Mike McFarland 28 needs to be a part of this now rather than later. They will put a lot on his back to get 29 things done quickly. Mr. Webb and Mr. McFarland will have the most responsibility. 30 Amend it to get those issues started and done this year. Everett stated task 4B is to define 31 objectives and the program framework. That is exactly what they are talking about now. 32 The first thing to do will be to define the priorities. Exhibit B can be adjusted and changed 33 at any time to reflect the priorities. 34 35 Brenner stated that's great, but that doesn't get in the way of having Mike 36 McFarland and Warner Webb shepherd this parks and special district impact fee through, 37 beginning sooner. Hart stated they need to bring the Comprehensive Parks Plan to the 38 Council. That is an impediment, but the rest of it can happen. He will talk with Mr. 39 McFarland soon and let him know of the Council's desire. 40 41 Weimer asked if they can pass an ordinance that includes the school, fire, and parks 42 fees, while they still need a Comprehensive Plan amendment. Hart stated the plan is to 43 docket before the end of this year, then do it simultaneously. Make sure all the pieces fit 44 together. With each of the school districts, they need an interlocal agreement. The County 45 would develop a standard interlocal agreement for school districts. 46 47 Weimer asked if anything will preclude this happening in 2007. Hart stated he 48 doesn't think there will be any impediments. 49 50 Brenner stated they could do an interim emergency amendment to the 51 Comprehensive Plan if they need to. 52 53 Caskey - Schreiber stated push forward the schools and fire district before the end of Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 9/26/2006, Page 8 1 the year. The Comprehensive Plan process encourages so much public participation that 2 they won't subvert any public process by going forward on those two items. There is no 3 harm in fast- tracking those two issues. Everett stated a Comprehensive Plan amendment 4 about levels of service is on the books. It is a 2006 Comprehensive Plan amendment they 5 haven't shaped yet. There will be a point where they can only move so fast. They could 6 cram in so much during 2006 that they may slow the process and run short on funds. 7 Now, only $100,000 is budgeted for 2006. 8 9 Weimer stated he supports Councilmember Caskey- Schreiber's idea to move schools 10 and fire districts forward on the timeline of an interim ordinance. 11 12 Crawford stated staff is listening and agreeing. He's comfortable moving it forward 13 the way it is. 14 15 Hart stated staff would amend its working chart, but that doesn't require an 16 amendment to the contract. 17 18 Brenner asked for an amendment to task 4A to be done in October. Hart stated 19 they will do it as quickly as possible. There will be a new scope in the contract. 20 21 Everett stated the scope is not listed in sequential order. The project schedule can 22 be revised this afternoon and brought to the full Council. 23 24 Motion to approve carried unanimously. 25 26 3. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO 27 INTERLOCAL AGREEMENTS BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND BLAINE, 28 FERNDALE AND BELLINGHAM FOR THE PROVISION OF ]AIL SERVICES 29 THROUGH THE CITY /COUNTY ]AIL INVESTMENT PROGRAM (AB2006 -357) 30 31 Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator, stated the administration proposes an 32 exchange of City funds provided to the County. In return, the County will credit the cities 33 for expanded capacity for jail services over eight years. The credit can be applied to any 34 service. The contributions from the cities are shown in section 4 of the agreements. The 35 amounts of the credit are listed on section 5a. 36 37 Weimer moved to recommend approval to the full Council. 38 39 Motion carried unanimously. 40 41 4. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A 42 CONTRACT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND GENEVA CONSULTING TO 43 DEVELOP A DETAILED IMPLEMENTATION PLAN IN ACCORDANCE WITH 44 RCW 90.82.043 -048 FOR WRIA PHASE I -PHASE 4 IMPLEMENTATIONS, IN 45 THE AMOUNT OF $85,000 (AB2006 -358) 46 47 Crawford moved to recommend approval to the full Council. 48 49 Weimer stated he is unclear on how this ties into the earlier Public Works items. 50 Generally, he is in favor of it. 51 52 Jeff Chalfant, Planning and Development Services, stated this is phase four of a 53 grant funded by the State Department of Ecology (Ecology), managed through the Planning Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 9/26/2006, Page 9 1 Department. Implementation phase of the water resource inventory area (WRIA) is being 2 shifted to the Planning Department. They are working collaboratively to make sure things 3 are well-coordinated. Public Works Department actions will be taken into consideration and 4 worked into the implementation plan as appropriate. They are working together. 5 6 Weimer asked the number of proposals they got for this. Chalfant stated they 7 received three proposals. 8 9 Weimer stated he's glad a local proposal got this. 10 11 Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator, stated they added staff to handle this matter. 12 There will be an active effort over the coming months. They want to integrate these 13 activities with Dr. Roll. 14 15 Motion carried unanimously. 16 17 S. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A 18 CONTRACT AMENDMENT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND STUDIO 19 CASCADE, INC. FOR PHASE II OF THE UPDATE TO THE WHATCOM COUNTY 20 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN, IN THE AMOUNT OF $35,000, FOR A TOTAL 21 AMENDED CONTRACT IN THE AMOUNT OF $75,000 (AB2006 -359) 22 23 Crawford asked how the public meeting went. 24 25 Hal Hart, Planning and Development Services Director, stated there was a good 26 turnout on Friday, but fewer people on the second day. There have been a series of 27 meetings with 50 to 70 residents. This specific meeting was to focus on Kendall. The 28 State Department of Transportation (DOT) put $5,000 into that meeting to discuss high 29 accident locations. It would have been nice if DOT didn't compartmentalize the Welcome 30 Center with that process. The meeting was mostly positive. There were some concerns 31 generally about where the focus of the East County is going. The East County community 32 is getting involved. They have approved a questionnaire for East County residents about 33 the future of the area. Staff and Studio Cascade worked on that together. Now, the 34 committee is looking at the deliverables for the plan chapters. They are now paying for the 35 completion of those chapters. 36 37 Crawford moved to recommend approval to the full Council. 38 39 Motion carried unanimously. 40 41 (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side B.) 42 43 6. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A GRANT 44 AGREEMENT AMENDMENT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND THE 45 WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY TO SUPPORT WHATCOM 46 COUNTY MARINE RESOURCES COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES THROUGH JULY 47 2007, IN THE AMOUNT OF $92,000, FOR A TOTAL AMENDED AGREEMENT IN 48 THE AMOUNT OF $249,800 (AB2006 -360) 49 50 Weimer moved to recommend approval to the full Council. 51 52 Motion carried unanimously. 53 Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 9/26/2006, Page 10 7. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO A ]DINT FUNDING AGREEMENT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY FOR THE ONGOING OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE COUNTY'S SEVEN STREAM GAGES WITHIN THE EARLY FLOOD WARNING SYSTEM, IN THE AMOUNT OF $66,800, WITH THE COUNTY'S SHARE IN THE AMOUNT OF $54,380 (AB2006 -361) Crawford moved to recommend approval to the full Council. Motion carried unanimously. S. REQUEST AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXECUTIVE TO ENTER INTO AN AMENDMENT TO THE INTERLOCAL ]AIL SERVICES AGREEMENT BETWEEN WHATCOM COUNTY AND SNOHOMISH COUNTY REDUCING THE AVAILABLE BEDS FROM 40 TO 30, AND EXTENDING THE AGREEMENT THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2006, IN THE AMOUNT OF $154,560, FOR A TOTAL AMENDED AGREEMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $680,400 (AB2006 -362) Crawford asked about the number of beds used. Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator, stated the County has only ever used and funded 30 beds. They are amending the contract to reflect that amount. Crawford asked if they are going to discontinue using Snohomish County. Desler stated the Sheriff's Office would like to continue to use the beds at Snohomish County. They are currently reviewing the County's ability to pay for them. Wendy Jones, Chief of Corrections, stated the classification levels of offenders sent to Snohomish County aren't appropriate for the new work center. Not a great number of offenders can transition from the existing jail to the new work center. The new work center will hold those who are now not being booked at all. They anticipate that some of those offenders will not be able to transferred to the work center because of behavioral issues. They are continually monitoring the offender population. That's the reason for the request for funding those beds. A concern is that if they lose those beds, and need them in the future, they may not be available. Crawford asked if those offenders sent to Snohomish County are already sentenced. Jones stated some are and some aren't. They try to send those without a lot of bad institutional behavior or medical problems. Generally, they try to send folks who are medium or low- maximum security offenders who behave well and don't have a lot of medical problems. The majority of post conviction offenders spend their time in jail alternatives. These are folks who have violated alternative jail rules. Crawford asked for how many of the 30 beds the County is getting compensation from the local cities. Jones stated she may be able to provide that information during the budget process. Crawford stated it sounds like there are few. Jones stated most offenders have a number of different charges at once, so more than one jurisdiction is paying the cost. Crawford moved to recommend approval to the full Council. He stated (inaudible). Jones stated they would like to save funds for the main jail. Unfortunately, there was a judicial policy change that no longer allowed her to release offenders early due Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 9/26/2006, Page 11 I to population. Within three to five days of that decision, the population jumped and held 2 an additional 30 offenders. There are times they've held close to 300 folks in this jail 3 without the Snohomish County jail. Without Snohomish County jail, the population would 4 be close to 330 offenders in a jail built for 148 offenders. She can't do that. Anyone who 5 can go to the work center will go there. However, they are dealing with a more violent 6 population. 7 8 Crawford stated (inaudible). Desler stated look at the reimbursement that might 9 occur for that kind of service. Four or five years ago, about 50 percent of the jail cost was 10 reimbursed by other jurisdiction. Today, it is about 20 percent. The assumption that the 11 jail is wealthy because of the sales tax is false. That money his planned over the next ten 12 years. If they add capacity and services, which weren't forecast, it takes up a lot of 13 money. One choice is to buy more services now, which would take up more money from 14 the new main jail. The County has a commitment to the public for the new jail. The new 15 policy change is common throughout the justice system. The County's role is to figure out 16 whether or not the County can pay for these more expensive policy decisions. The County 17 is actively looking at ways to reduce the pretrial population. Other elected officials in the 18 courthouse will have to agree to that. 19 20 Motion carried unanimously, 21 22 23 OTHER BUSINESS 24 25 Crawford stated he talked with an employee at Skagit County regarding animal 26 control. The Skagit County population is 114,000. Animal control is done through the 27 Sheriff's Office. In 2004, they spent $128,891. In 2005, they spent $121,133. In 2006, 28 they had a budget of $132,951, but adjusted that down to $120,657. Their costs are 29 declining. In 2007, the budget request is $138,432. It breaks down to $6,000 per month 30 they pay the Humane Society for a total of $72,000 per year. They have one animal 31 control officer who is also the abandoned vehicle coordinator. The salary portion assigned 32 to animal control is $47,000. Operations and maintenance of the vehicle is $7,800. That 33 is for a county with more than half of Whatcom County's population. 34 35 Whatcom County has purchased a $600,000 facility, and is looking at a budget 36 request of nearly $400,000 for the operations. Whatcom County is spending a lot on 37 animal control. The Cities of Burlington and Mt. Vernon have their own animal control 38 contracts. He is not sure about the Cities of Anacortes and Sedro - Woolley contract with 39 Skagit County. It's a stark contrast in costs. 40 41 Weimer asked about the humane society capacity (inaudible). 42 43 Crawford stated this is one issue that tends to be unique to each county. Whatcom 44 County is on the high side in terms of cost. 45 46 Desler stated he submitted information that came through the budget process. It is 47 a report on the progress made toward goals and includes all departments and divisions. 48 The information is in preparation for the Council's review of budget requests. They have 49 tentatively set meetings for October. They have scheduled three full days. The third day 50 is devoted to a Committee of the Whole meeting. The administration is getting ready to 51 schedule and prepare those meetings. 52 53 Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 9/26/2006, Page 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ADJOURN The meet in adjourned at 11:50 a.m. Al Nixon, Minutes Transcription I14f ATTES ' • DanV' roVV lfx �ci gterk WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASFRNGTON Finance and Administrative Services Committee, 9/26/2006, Page 23