Council mania: live blogging 2-15-12

I’m at the Council meeting tonight, starting to blog at the agenda item, “2012 Workplan Priorities.” Morgan Smith presented a list of high priority items for staff, including resolving outstanding labor claims and negotiating a new police guild contract, Rockaway Beach stabilization, increasing the annual roads preservation support by 50%, and updating the water and sewer utility plans. She also identified work the Council agreed on at the council retreat, which include an allocation process for the WSF funds, roads planning and police accountability. Click here for the list: 021512_2012_WORKPLAN_CC_021512

Melanie Keenan and Malcolm Gander informed the Council that they submitted a draft grant to Ecology for $200,000 to clean up the Unocal site. They want the Council to put the grant on the work plan. They mentioned that they’d been in touch with Dave Ward about this.

Barry Peters reminded the Council that the UAC brought forward a recommendation to examine the SSWM fee structure and recommends that the Council put that on its work plan.

Debbi Lester moved to affirm the proposed work plan, Bonkowski seconded. Passes unanimously. Bob Scales is absent from the meeting.

Anne Blair suggested if there is a plan to divest the water utility this year, it needs to be on the work plan.

Kirsten Hytopoulos says that to have a full conversation of the cultural element they need to have more information. We don’t know who will be our manager, or whether we will be manager-less, she says, so she doesn’t think they should open up broader conversation about the social services or the cultural element. They just don’t have the capacity, even though that conversation is overdue.  She says, we’ve lost the opportunity of having a conversation this year about who we are and where we’re going by undertaking a city manager search this year.

Bonkowski agrees. I don’t think we have the time this year to look at cultural element or to do a full strategic plan, he says. Also the new city manager should participate in those conversations. Brenda Bauer says council will be challenged to develop the biennial budget also, and it won’t contain the thoughtful priorities.

Blair repeats her questions about the water issue. Dead silence. Hytopoulos says they need to know whether the water utility will be divested so they can use staff time wisely. Blossom says we’re going to leave the water utility on work plan as a place holder. Bonkowski says he would like to look at the water, whether the decision to keep it for 12-18 months is still appropriate because of the new council members and the additional information we get from KPUD. We shouldn’t surprise anybody, he says, to which Blair replies, “I would hope not.”

Blair says we’ll put “reconsideration of the water utility divestiture question” on work plan. Bonkowsi says he thinks in the 3rd quarter of 2012. Hytopoulos says we need to know more about the impact of divestiture on the sewer utility. Bauer says the sewer rates will jump substantially, and there will be a big impact on the general fund. There are also legal issues that should be reviewed with City Attorney.

Hytopoulos says we’ve only heard from one person, and she’d like to hear where the rest of the Council stands and also that they should start the conversation earlier in the year. Ward says he wants that discussion to occur, in the 3rd quarter. Lester says she didn’t intend to speak on the issue this evening. Blossom says “the earlier the better.” Blair says there is a majority who want to do that.

Ward wanted to add the Gander-Keenan grant to the work plan. Hytopoulos said she didn’t think the council process was to amend a work plan by citizens walking in a proposal. Ward wanted to go ahead with the grant on the work plan. Hytopoulos said she is interested in hearing more at some point, but it’s not a conversation for this evening, and doesn’t want to put it on the work plan. Ward says he thought it should be kept on the radar screen because the grant has been submitted and the city doesn’t have to do anything at the moment.

Bonkowski brought up police accountability. It’s already in the work plan, Blair said. Bauer added the intention is to implement the Pailka recommendations, to the extent the police labor agreements allow. Hytopoulos says the community wants this item to be executed, but it’s another issue that may have to take a back seat to the manager search. Also that the next city manager should have input.

City Manager Search

After a short break, the Council began discussing the process for the search for the new city manager. Bonkowski updated the council on the work of his subcommittee on this.  Last week they looked at how much it’s going to cost and agreed to hire a professional search firm. They recognized there were other tasks that were related in terms of future activities. He presented a draft statement for the contract to conduct the search (photographs below). They want to include the public in the process. They estimate 3-4 weeks to complete the request-for-proposal. COBI doesn’t have a substantial human resource department so the search firm has to do that work, advise them on a compensation plan and the like. The firm will also negotiate the manager’s contract.

They think they can finalize the contract with the search firm by the end of March. The search would be a 12-15 week process after that. They estimate June 18 to July 9 as a hire date for the new manager. He thinks the severance obligations for Bauer will be 6-9 months. They also budgeted an interim city manager at a premium salary. They will have to pay travel costs, relocation costs and the like for candidates. The total for the search will range from $175,000 to $313,000.

Bauer says that’s a very aggressive schedule, very optimistic. Council votes to accept the statement of work.

Roles of City Attorney and Outside Counsel 

Lester takes up this topic. Lester says she offered to pay for it out of her mayor’s salary to understand the council process. Then she found out Steven Dijulio works at Foster Pepper, where our City Attorney recently worked so she thought Dijulio shouldn’t talk to them about conflicts of interest. Hytopoulos asked if Lester thinks Dijulio has a conflict, noting that he gives workshops to lawyers all the time. Lester says she wants a neutral third party. Hytopoulos says we’re taking the accusations to a new level. She says she’s growing increasingly offended on behalf of this council that members are suggesting esteemed attorneys can’t be trusted to be ethical. Dave Ward says he isn’t offended at all. He says DiJulio’s firm has billed this city a half million dollars in the Ratepayers lawsuit and they are not neutral.

Lester says she wants a neutral party, not that she is discrediting those individuals. My apologies if that is being taken that way, she says. Blossom reminds everyone that Scales said last week that it is important that Debbi and Dave will take advice from this person. Hytopoulos says that is a good point, but the reason we have to do this in the first place is a level of distrust for advisers that is crippling this council.

Lester wants to hire two different lawyers, one to advise on our form of government and one on conflicts of interest and what the council does about them. Lester says she’ll find someone on the conflicts piece, and we can have Dijulio for the form of government. Where is the line between the mayor, the city manager and staff under our form of government, Bonkowski says, is what we would like a refresher on. Bauer says you need to agree on who you’re going to rely on for your legal questions. Lester says they’ll discuss that as a council.

That discussion concluded, Dave Ward excused himself and left the meeting.

To enlarge the pictures, click on them.